


Clean!

by doctorwhat420



Category: Torchwood
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-10
Updated: 2020-06-11
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:01:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24647629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doctorwhat420/pseuds/doctorwhat420
Summary: Teaching in a school is never easy, especially not when relationship drama comes in the way of your work. Jack Harkness knows it too well, and this new handsome Welsh janitor isn't making things any easier.
Relationships: Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones, Jack Harkness/John Hart, John Hart/Ianto Jones
Comments: 4
Kudos: 9





	Clean!

Jack Harkness knew he had the heart of a leader. He enjoyed giving harsh orders to the students who disrupted his PE class. He almost wanted to smile seeing the bratty teens suffer in silence as they were running extra laps for insulting a young boy who was not comfortable running with his chest binder. Most of the students were already going through the locker rooms, it was almost the end of class and Jack was not the kind of teacher who forced their students to wait till the bell rang. If the people in the classroom decided they didn't want to work anymore, it was stupid to force them.

He looked at the poor floor of the gymnasium. Old Mister Colchester, the janitor, never really cared about the gymnasium enough to give it a thorough cleaning. Jack knew he had to speak to the Principal about it but he thought he'd rather not see his face when he could avoid it, his thumb automatically going over his naked ring finger.

When the last of the brats were finally done with their extra laps, he went to his locker room to take a shower and change into his day clothes. It had been a long sweaty day so he welcomed the heat. It was with a sad sigh that he turned the water off and stepped out of the shower. As he was buttoning up his shirt, he heard a voice calling for him.

"Jack?"

He knew it was the English teacher just by the sound of her heels on the locker room floor.

"Gwen Cooper!" he exclaimed with a big smile. "You almost caught me naked, how unlucky of you to miss it..."

She looked rather lovely with her hair up in a bun and her white blouse. Her black skirt was a bit too long by Jack standards but he was no fashion expert. It wasn't her usual style; when they were out with friends, she was a bit more punk, with leather jackets and tight jeans... Her work attire was very traditional but she liked to look professional in front of the kids.

She smiled at him, avoiding his eyes and blushing a little, grabbing the golden necklace that was hanging above her chest.

"Hum, we're having a teacher meeting, apparently we have a new janitor replacing Colchester and the Principal wanted the staff to meet him."

"Wow and he included me!" Jack said putting his hands on his hips after slapping his white suspender over his light blue shirt. "How thoughtful."

"I know!" giggled Gwen. "You should marry him!". She tilted her head making her fringe fall a bit to the side in a cutesy manner.

"Never making that mistake again." he joked, still feeling a sting in his chest at the thought of marriage. "I'll be up in a few, I need to get my stuff."

O-o-O-o-O

The meeting room was filled with teachers and other members of the staff. Jack barely had space to move around. He was standing on the back, next to Gwen and Owen Harper, the school nurse.

"Fuck, I hate it here," said Owen. "Tosh had the right idea saying she needed to install new software on the school computers. Makes me wish I had actually stayed to help her when she asked me to."

Jack knew about the Japanese woman's crush on Owen, he was pretty sure everyone knew. Everyone but Owen. It could almost be turned into a plot for a romantic movie...

"I just don't get it." sighed Gwen, her arms crossed over her chest like a pouty child. "Why does he need us to see the new janitor... I'm pretty sure we don't usually meet like this unless it's a new teacher like we did last week for Tyler. The Principal really hates us or what? Jack, you... you... y-you have been here longer than any of us, any ideas?"

Jack knew she wanted to say 'you know him better than we do' and was glad she didn't, because, in the end, he was pretty sure most of the teachers here knew the Principal as well as he did.

"I have no idea of what's happening but I don't like being in a stuffy room with so many people, especially not if they're wearing clothes."

Owen elbowed him in the ribs. Jack knew that saying anything dirty was a good conversation closer. It meant he didn't want to talk or had nothing more to say about the subject.

The door on the opposite wall of where the trio was standing suddenly opened. The Principal appeared with a young man following behind him. The room grew a bit quieter as everyone was eyeing the newcomer curiously, judging him on appearance as every human does when they first encounter someone. Jack would call this 'survival instinct', making sure the person you're meeting fitted in a category that matched your values.

He certainly fitted in every single one of Jack's categories. The young man was smartly dressed in a dark purple shirt with a dark tie and a dark waistcoat. The gym teacher wished he could properly see his bottom half but too many people were blocking the view. He looked like he took care of himself. He was tall with broad shoulders, had dark hair and very handsome features.

"Oh, hi everybody!" Said the Principal opening his arms and smiling broadly. He was wearing his usual dark suit with a dark shirt under it. Jack could swear it was how Satan would dress had he been living among them.

"Hello, Mister Hart." answered a few voices in the crowd.

"That's right! Mister Hart!" he pointed to his naked ring finger, showing it off, and got a few laughs from the crowd. "It will be a lot less confusing than having two 'Mister Harkness' now, isn't it?" He joined his hands and scrubbed them together in a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Well now, I have you all gathered for you to meet our new slave! And by 'slave', I mean janitor of course..."

A few people laugh at that and Jack could only roll his eyes and lean on the wall behind him. He really hated that man.

"This is Ianto Jones!" said the Principal his hand pointing at the young man who smiled deftly and politely. "Ianto will clean up after us and make sure every door is opened on time."

"I'll try my best," said Ianto Jones in a Welsh accent with a smile that seemed very sweet.

"So you're probably wondering why I'm having you all crammed up in this room... Well, it's simple. It will be 4 o'clock in about..." he checked his watch "...12 seconds and I wanted to make sure you were all here when it happens."

People looked around confused. Jack frowned, not knowing what was going on through this crazy man's head. They may have been married five years but nothing ever made sense with this guy. He saw John Hart put his hands to his ears and that's when he realised what was happening.

The fire alarm suddenly blasted through the speakers on the ceiling, frightening many members of the staff.

"Bloody hell!" screamed Gwen over the sound. Jack could barely hear her, his hands were covering his ears and he felt like falling, he hated loud noises and he knew deep down that this was one of John's little sadistic games.

The noise came to an abrupt end and people were too stunned to say anything.

"We have a new fire alarm!" exclaimed the Principal grinning. "Isn't that exciting?"

No one answered.

"Oh, you guys are no fun... You can leave now." He waved his hand dismissively at them. "See you all tomorrow."

People were frowning as they left the place. It was another one of the many eccentric jokes by their principal. If this institution was not one of the top schools in this country, a lot of teachers would have already left to work somewhere else, including Jack. He had also made good friends with Gwen, Owen and Toshiko, everyone knew about the trio's good chemistry and some of their night out stories.

"Hey big boy!" said the Principal's voice behind him. He felt a hand on his shoulder and cringed internally as he turned to face him. Gwen and Owen eyed him curiously before exiting the meeting room. There was only John, the new janitor and Jack left.

"What do you want?" he spat.

"Is that a way to speak to your boss?" John gasped then smiled. "I want to talk to you about your fun little way of harassing your students."

Jack looked confused.

"You know" continued Mister Hart. "Your funny little American thing of making people run laps around the gymnasium..."

"I really don't think it's an American thin-"

"Well, it has to stop. These rich kids have rich parents you know, parents who want their children to be educated, not bullied by some second-rate gym teacher."

Jack was furious but didn't want the venom to appear in his voice.

"Oh well maybe, said rich parents should teach their children to be more respectful of others!"

He wanted John to know he was talking about him too.

"Come on, Jack. You're the PE teacher, not the Dalai Lama. Just do your fucking job by letting them play football or whatever you do to have their teenage sweat running and stop harassing them. It looks bad on Twitter."

The American wanted to shout at him, but he knew very well it was just another one of John's little mind game. However, the thing Jack hated the most was the fact that he found him attractive under the dim light of the tinted windows, he couldn't help but stare at his eyes. John patted him on the cheek.

"You can go now, I'll have coffee with Mister Jones."

Jack looked over John's shoulder to see the new Janitor, hands behind his back staring at the ceiling. John smiled brightly.

"Doesn't he look good in a suit?" he whispered pointlessly as Jack was sure Mister Jones could hear him.

"Careful..." came the deep voice of the Janitor. "That's harassment, sir..."

"Isn't he brilliant?" grinned the Principal.

_'A new boy toy for you'_ thought Jack. He felt a bit bad for the Welshman, he didn't know what kind of school he was getting into.

O-o-O-o-O

Jack was surprised when arriving at the school the next morning. The front door was already unlocked. It had always been him there first, old Mister Colchester was usually in half an hour later, so he had given him a copy of the main door key. Jack would go in, deactivate the alarm then go to the school teacher lounge to prepare his lessons. Some teachers made fun of him for it. 'You don't need to prepare a lesson for a PE class' they would say. Jack almost wanted to snap back 'well you didn't have to sleep with the Principal, Denise' but he knew better than to start a fight with his colleagues, especially when half of them had slept with the Principal.

Being meticulous, the American still checked to see if the alarm had been deactivated and was surprised to see that not only was it indeed deactivated but shining as well. Someone had removed the years of dust that had accumulated on the control panel. He closed it with his key and scratched his head.

It was probably the new Janitor he thought. He had forgotten his name but he was glad someone was actually taking care of the place better than Mister Colchester. He took the stairs up to get to the teachers' office. The door was still locked this time so he opened it with the classroom pass. He turned on the lights and walked towards the coffee machine only to see it wasn't there anymore.

"Oh what the hell?" he muttered, looking behind him to make sure no one had heard him talking to himself.

In place of the coffee maker stood a complicated device that Jack could only assume was an espresso machine. It was early in the morning and that already put Jack in a bad mood, he had no time nor will to learn how it worked. He grabbed his bag and left for his gym locker next to the gymnasium in the basement, thinking that a bit of jogging might wake him up better than coffee. He wanted to change into his gym shorts and white T-shirt and gasped as he stepped onto the gymnasium's floor.

It was shinning as if the floor had been polished during the night, it had actually been cleaned, Jack couldn't believe it. Sitting on one of the benches was the new janitor dressed in his blue jumpsuit like the rest of the cleaning staff, his cleaning cart was right next to him.

Jack approached him amazed. He was wearing headphones and was sipping a plastic cup of something. As Jack grew closer he could smell the strong coffee the young man was drinking.

"Hello..." said Jack waving, trying to get his attention without startling him.

He jumped a bit, removed his headphones and smiled softly.

"Hello, I didn't see you there. I wasn't expecting someone so early..."

"Well, I didn't expect my gymnasium to be clean. Ever. Thank you." Jack smiled and offered his hand for the man to shake. "I'm Mister Harkness. You can call me Jack."

He shook his hand. "Jones, Ianto Jones. I think we met yesterday. You can call me Ianto."

"We did..." said Jack glad that the young man had introduced himself again. "So, you seem young to be working in the cleaning business..."

Ianto looked down on his cup which he was holding with his two hands.

"You could say that..." he almost whispered.

"Been in the business for long?"

"Not really."

' _Not much of a chatter'_ thought Jack.

He was starting to stare at Ianto's hand holding his coffee cup firmly. The smell was enough to make Jack's stomach rumble a bit.

"I'm sorry is that coffee in that thermos?"

"Um... Y-Yeah? Do you want some?" His hands were trembling a little when he grabbed the bottle. "It's really strong though, I should warn you..."

"Please, God, yes!" Ianto smiled again and grabbed the cup on the bottom of the thermos, he started pouring one for Jack. "They replaced the machine upstairs, can you believe it?" continued Jack. "It's an espresso machine now, I don't think we have a single member of the staff who knows how that works. Probably yet another one of Joh- I mean the Principal's ideas. He just likes to torment us."

Ianto simply handed him the cup without asking questions and Jack silently thanked him for that. He didn't feel like talking about his recent divorce with a man he just met, especially one who seemed so young. He grabbed the cup looking at Ianto's hand to see if there was a ring on it. It had somehow become a reflex now, checking if people were in a happily married relationship. The relationship he no longer had. Ianto wasn't wearing a ring, but he was young, maybe he had a special someone.

As soon as the hot drink touched his tongue, it was as if Jack had been introduced to a brand new world. His eyes widened, he shivered and gasped.

"Wow, this is wonderful! What's your brand!"

Ianto seemed to brighten up so much it lit up the room, but that was because a ray of sunshine was coming through the small windows on top of the room, leaving a small tray of light on his cheeks.

"It's a small brand of coffee beans from Brazil, I buy them online and do the roasting myself. I take coffee very seriously. I hand brew it too! The secret is the temperature of the water, you can't just boil the water as if you were making tea, you need to measure the heat to get the perfect temperature."

Ianto stopped himself from babbling and Jack chuckled at his enthusiasm. At first, he had thought Ianto was introverted but he was just a bit shy. He could see in his smile that he was the kind of guy to have fun at the pub with friends, maybe Jack could invite him for a drink with Gwen, Tosh and Owen later. He then realised he was thinking about inviting a total stranger because he made good coffee and that was pretty stupid so he added the fact he was cute, now he had a good excuse to invite him.

"Well you must have magical hands," he said with a wink. "You're here early, it must have taken you hours to clean this place."

"I started yesterday afternoon. I just had a few things to finish in the morning. I don't need a lot of sleep". Ianto shrugged and finished his cup of coffee. "I still need to clean the gum under the benches. I'll do it tomorrow. I need to make a list of everything I'll do this week."

Jack could appreciate a well-organised man, he was not so organised himself but he liked to be prepared.

"I agree! My colleagues make fun of me for preparing my lessons. If you ask me, they got their degree in a Kinder egg."

Ianto laughed at that. It was a sincere laugh, Jack could feel it, for some reason he couldn't stop smiling listening to his laughter, it was very contagious.

"I really like your outfit, by the way," said Ianto with a nod of approval. "It's very retro."

"Oh flirting with me already? I can't say the same for you, I'm not into that kind of uniform..."

The Welshman laughed again. "It has its charm... You seem to dress very well, I really like men fashion. People these days dress too similarly, it's nice to see someone actually trying instead of looking like an H&M mannequin."

It was Jack's turn to laugh. Ianto sounded like a very passionate man.

He watched as the young man stood up and stretched his arms.

"I have to keep on working. You can put the cup on your desk when you're done, I'll pick it up later."

The PE teacher nodded and smiled a toothy grin. He wanted to say something dirty involving things to do on a desk other than picking things up but didn't want to scare the young man away. "Thank you, I'll see you later then."

Ianto took this as his cue to leave, he put his flask on his cleaning trolley and pushed it to the elevator. Jack watched him walk away, still smiling and not trying to hide the fact he was clearly checking his backside out.

O-o-O-o-O

Jack really disliked the students he was currently supervising. They were on the outside field, playing a game of baseball, and it seemed like no one wanted to work this morning. Most of the girls were sitting in the grass chatting away, talking about the new PE teacher being the hottest piece of man ever. Jack could only agree, Tyler Steele was pretty hot, and maybe that's why he had agreed to teach together for the day. After all, Suzie and he often used to join forces when dealing with difficult teenagers. He really missed her sometimes but now was not the time to think bout that. He had students to discipline.

"Ladies if you could please stand up, this is a PE class, not a Gossip class..."

It seemed as if one of them wanted to stand up but seeing none of her group doing so, she stayed sitting there. Jack put his hands on his hips and frowned severely at them.

"I'm serious, ladies. If you don't want to flank this class please stand up and join the others."

They got up with a heavy sigh and muttering among themselves. They walked slowly to where a redhead boy and a non-binary student were picking teams. Jack accompanied them and walked over to Tyler.

"So what were they gossiping about?" asked Tyler in a northern English accent.

"About how hot you are." smiled Jack crossing his arms.

Tyler rolled his eyes. "I don't think it's appropriate for teachers to flirt in front of the students, but you're not so bad yourself, Jack..."

Jack laughed. He liked Tyler so far. He was new so he had no idea of the love/lust stories going on in the teachers' life and he didn't even seem to care about it. He was a bit of a social justice warrior, helping students putting up anti-racism posters around the school and it had only been one week since he'd arrived. Plus, he was really cute with his young face, blond messy hair, his usual loose ties when not wearing his sports uniform and his lean frame. Unfortunately, he was a bit of an asshole.

"Move your fat arse, Jenny!" he told one of his student who didn't want to join a team. Said girl looked down and moved to his team captain. Jack knew that having a pretty face was a privilege, but he never abused it as much as Tyler did. With a simple smile, he could make anyone blush and forgot he just humiliated them.

"So," began Tyler as soon as all the students were in teams and playing the game. "Have you seen the new janitor? He's looking pretty hot, reckon I have a chance?"

Jack shrugged "He's... quite handsome, I guess." He thought about the conversation they had this morning. "He's nice though, he cleaned the gym so well it looks brand new and he gave me a cup of hand-brewed coffee."

"Oh wow," said Tyler raising his eyebrows and smirking slightly. "There must be something special going on between you, I could murder a cup of coffee," he continued, his face now concerned. "Have you seen the new coffee machine? This bloody school expects us to be engineers to get a cup. It's bonkers!"

Jack started to think about Ianto, maybe he could teach him how to use it. A man brewing his own coffee probably knew how to use an espresso machine. He got pulled off his thoughts by Tyler clapping his hands loudly to get the attention of one of his students.

"James, for fuck sake, you stupid bean, put your shoes on. Where do you think you are? The bloody beach?"

The American thought of what John had told him the day before, about him being too harsh with his students. Making teenagers run in circles was nothing compared to what the new teacher was putting them through. He didn't feel comfortable enough to tell Tyler off, not in front of the students since it would probably make them question their authority. However, they were pretty calm and focused on the game, a lot more than usual anyways. Time went by slowly for Jack. When it was finally time to go back to the locker room he was almost glad to part ways with the younger teacher. He felt that Tyler was pretty immature, which seemed normal for his young age, but that wasn't a trait Jack was particularly fond of.

"Let's do that again," said Tyler grabbing his lunchbox. "I'm not really good with students I don't like but you make it bearable."

"Sure..." he waved at Tyler as he left the office space.

Jack sat down at his small table. He wanted to prepare his next lesson quickly before eating his lunch so that he knew where to put the cones for the obstacle course he was setting later. It shouldn't take more than five minutes because he had years of practice at making these, he could just pick from one he had made the previous years and tweak it a bit for his students' current needs.

Someone suddenly came into his office.

"Oh sorry. I didn't expect you to still be here." said a strong Welsh accent. "I just came to pick up the cup."

That voice made him smiled as he raised his head to see Ianto standing there with rosy cheeks. He was not wearing his cleaning uniform so Jack could only assume he was on a break. This man knew how to dress to impress. Jack caught himself staring a bit too long at his dark blue polka-dotted tie and the white collar of his shirt. He really liked that dark suit but it seemed a bit overdressed for... well for his job. Jack didn't see the point in changing simply for a lunch break, himself was still wearing his sports outfit.

"I was just about to leave for lunch, we can go up together if you want," said Jack. "I can introduce you to a few people that you might get along with."

He stood up and grabbed his lunch bag. It would be nice to introduce Ianto to his friends, he really seemed like a nice guy even if he appeared a bit shy. Jack kind of liked him already even though they hadn't said much.

"I would love that, but the Principal has already invited me over to eat lunch with him."

Jack felt as if someone had twinged a toothpick into his heart. Of course, mentioning John was always a bit painful, but he wondered why it felt worse than usual. Ianto was not looking him in the eyes.

"Oh..." started Jack. "I would say 'have fun', but with this man, I should say 'good luck', I think." he chuckled nervously.

Ianto put his head down, looking a bit embarrassed.

"He's your ex-husband, am I right? I don't want to make things awkward... This, uh, this is not a date or anything... I'm not into guys, I mean I'm not into-"

"It's fine!" interrupted Jack putting his free hand in the air, not wanting to hear more about it. "Do what you want, I really don't care about him."

He tried giving a reassuring smile because he knew he sounded a bit bitter. What did he mean not a date? This wasn't the kind of outfit you'd wear if this wasn't a date. Of course, John would immediately try to get into his new employees' pants... He just wished it had been Tyler and not him. Ianto seemed like a sweet kid, he didn't deserve to be in the presence of that prick.

"Right," proceeded the younger man after clearing his throat. "We could, um, eat together tomorrow?"

"And now it's a date!" joked Jack cheekily. He was glad Ianto was the one to ask, he didn't want to look too pushy.

"How romantic!" Ianto replied walking slowly toward Jack's desk to pick up his cup. "No better first date than eating a sad lunch in a room full of teachers..."

His comment made Jack smile and he shook his head slightly.

"I can't think of anything better..." he said in a low voice.

Their eyes met and it felt like they were staring at each other. The Welshman suddenly felt very close and yet so far away, Jack could smell the cleaning products on him, and a faint scent of Axe deodorant. He didn't know what to think, they were less than a meter apart, Ianto had his hand on his cup and was leaning towards Jack who had one hand on the table and the other holding his lunch bag. 

_'Am I noticing a small amount of sexual tension?'_ Jack asked himself. He could feel something in his stomach and something in his lower parts. Yes, it was definitely sexual tension. He smirked and raised an eyebrow which made Ianto blush and look away. He finally picked up the cup.

"Well, I shall get going! See you later." he left hurriedly not looking back.

Jack was still smirking when he left the room a few seconds later.

O-o-O-o-O

"All I'm saying is that you could shut up about him for like 10 minutes and it would be heaven on Earth!" Owen said before finishing up his drink. They were at their usual pub, Gwen was already tipsy and Tosh had yet to join them. Jack was drinking water, he didn't like drinking in public and he always felt the need to stay sharp in case anything happened to his friends.

"All I said was that he was Welsh!" he defended himself against Owen's accusation. "That's hardly me talking for 10 minutes! You talked about Welsh whisky I made the connection, that's all."

"He's in denial..." said Owen shaking his head. "We live in Cardiff! There are plenty of Welsh valley boys you could be talking about, and yet you choose _him._ I didn't even remember his name but now I'm sure I'll never forget it again."

Gwen laughed loudly with her mouth wide open. "It's like when I met Rhys," she said tapping on the table with her hand. "I couldn't stop talking about him to my mum..."

"I hardly just met him guys, nothing's going on!"

Toshiko suddenly appeared, putting her computer bag on the table.

"Sorry, I'm late! What did I miss?" she said beaming with a radiant smile. She was wearing a lovely long-sleeved red dress with a beautiful necklace and assorted earrings. Jack could only stare at how pretty she was, Gwen was just looking at her with her mouth opened, probably thinking the same. He was about to compliment her on her looks when Owen suddenly spoke.

"Jack has a thing for the new guy!"

"I do not!" he glared at Owen, he really didn't have a thing for the guy, they had only met and had maybe two conversations. Not enough to make it a 'thing'. Flirting with a handsome man wasn't anything new to him.

"Oh!" exclaimed Toshiko sitting next to Jack and in front of Owen. "Tyler right? I keep catching him giving you the eye..."

"Tosh, darling, read the room please..." said the nurse in an annoyed tone. "Tyler is a prick, he wants to bang every hot guy he sees." Toshiko looked around embarrassed. He was the one to talk when all he did at the pub was looking for women to go home with and on a few rare occasions when he really couldn't get a girl to even look at him, men.

Owen stood up and put both his hands on the table. "Going for a refill do you want anything?" he asked.

Everyone but Jack told him what they wanted to drink and he left to order at the bar.

"So if it's not Tyler..." started Toshiko thinking about what to say. "It has to be Ianto Jones, the new janitor..."

Jack was almost impressed she knew his name even though she wasn't there when he was introduced to the staff, but it was the sort of things Tosh just knew. She was the kind of woman to know everything about everyone (and not because she was having fun hacking into the school's email services to test the server's security system, and if you asked her she would say it wasn't her anyways and she had evidence she couldn't possibly do that). She was very smart as well as being a beauty, and they said you couldn't have it all...

"He's a janitor," said Gwen with a smirk. "It's not the lifestyle you were used to Jack, with John being a rich bastard, how many hospitals does he own again?"

"Six!" grinned Toshiko.

"Six!" repeated Gwen still laughing. "You didn't win those in the divorce, did you?"

Jack gave a weak glare in her direction and took a sip of his water. He really liked Gwen Cooper, she was good with people _when she wasn't drunk._ She often had the right words but it was not the case tonight. She could be really annoying, he figured she was spending too much time with Owen. At one point he almost believed they were sleeping together because they seemed a bit too close sometimes. He was sure that if he asked about it, she would tell him the truth.

He shouldn't minimise the friendship between men and women. Jack and Gwen were very close too and nothing ever happened between them... Even though in the few months after his marriage started to go to shit, she had slept at his house more than once after fighting with his boyfriend and it had _almost_ happened. Jack was glad it didn't happen even though he really wanted it to. They were still a bit flirty with each other but nothing serious. He respected her relationship with Rhys, sometimes more than she did.

"I still got almost 50% of his wealth in shares and that's a pretty big deal even for an adultery case."

"Cheers to that!" blurted Gwen raising her pint. She was the only one with an alcoholic drink but she didn't seem to mind. Her phone started ringing so she picked up and left the table, mouthing 'it's Rhys'. Both of them watched Gwen walk outside.

"So, Tosh... looking good tonight."

She blushed and looked the other way.

"Yeah, I was, um... on some sort of date?" she looked over at Owen at the bar, Jack followed her gaze. Owen was talking to some guy, Jack thought he looked familiar but he could only see his back and couldn't quite place it.

Toshiko sighed and lowered her head. "It went well but I'm not sure if I should see... _her_ again."

There was something in the way she said 'her' that made Jack smile.

"Oh my little Toshiko, you deserve the best! You'll have to introduce us to _her_ someday!" he told her mimicking her tone. Jack smiled softly at her before continuing with a sad sigh, "I'm sorry Owen is an idiot."

"It's for Rhys that I'm sorry..." whispered Tosh. She immediately looked away blushing hard. "It's really none of my business, I shouldn't have said that."

Jack raised both eyebrows, was there something going on that he didn't know about? He wasn't really good with digging information like Tosh was but he could feel something was wrong. He puts his hand over her, caressing the top of it with his thumb. She looked at their hands, a blank expression on her face. She was beautiful even when trying to avoid him.

"Is everything alright?" he asked his voice full of concerned.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine."

Toshiko removes her hand from under Jack's and put it on her lap. She didn't seem fine but he didn't want to make her uncomfortable. Something was troubling her and he really wanted to know what.

Owen came back by placing a tray of beverages loudly on the table, breaking the moment between Jack and Toshiko.

"You'd never guess who I found drinking by himself at the bar..." said Owen making them both look up.

"Tyler?" exclaimed Jack shocked to see his already-looking-pissed colleague. "What are you doing here?".

"Now then, what do you think smartarse? I don't go to the pub to pray to Gay Jesus, ya know..."

His words were very slurred. He grabbed a chair and sat next to Jack, grabbing a pint of dark beer from the tray and accidentally pouring some on his white shirt's sleeve. The American lifted an eyebrow as he took a big slurp of his drink, leaving him with a beer moustache. He pointed at Jack's half-empty glass of water.

"The real question is why are you coming to the pub to drink water."

Jack shrugged as Tyler licked the beer of his lips. He was super hot in the pub dim light, his eyes a bit cloudy but his lips were so red and inviting, it made Jack smile, showing his teeth. He was always surrounded by beautiful people.

"I came here to have a good time," he said leaning closer. "I don't need alcohol for that." He kind of wanted to flirt with Tyler and maybe fool around a bit but he wasn't a fan of relationships at work, not after what happened with John.

"Pity," replied the younger man. "Drinking with me is always fun."

"As if I wanted to carry you back home to safety," said Jack sipping on his water. "Well, if I think about it, it might be satisfying tucking you in bed and make sure you're alright..."

"Trust me, I'd be the one carrying you..." said Tyler with a wink and pointing his finger towards Jack's face.

Owen cleared his throat. "We're still here you know."

Jack hadn't even noticed Owen was back on his chair.

"I think you were right, Tosh," grinned Owen. "I think it's Tyler he wants to shag, not the janitor."

Tyler slammed his fist on the table. "I fucking knew it! When we talked about him this morning I knew there was something suspicious."

Jack was seriously starting to get annoyed with everyone. Mentioning someone was now a sign of infatuation?

"You've got no chance anyway," continued Tyler drinking another gulp. "I saw him come out of Hart's office earlier, his tie was undone and his lips were so fucking red they looked bruised. I reckon he sucked him off. Can't compete with Mister Hart..."

Jack clenched his fist, a feeling of dread sitting in his stomach. He had told Ianto he didn't care but now it felt more and more like he did care. He felt Tosh's hand on his thigh and he relaxed a bit. Tosh was probably the only one around that table who could start to imagine what a divorce felt like, Gwen would probably be a lot more empathic if she wasn't drunk.

Knowing that the person who said would love you forever cared so little now, knowing the song their two hearts sang together would never be played again, waking up in an empty bed, knowing the man who said would live his life for him and only him had betrayed him and left him to suffer.

"I should go," he said standing up.

He really didn't feel like being here anymore. He felt empty. He didn't know why bringing up John's sex life was putting him on the edge now and not before, maybe it was because it was Ianto, maybe it was because the info came from Tyler, maybe it was because Gwen was not here to give her full support.

"Here he goes," started Owen in what almost sounded like a whisper. "Bailing on us again, classic Jack..."

"Stay with us, Jack," said Toshiko grabbing him by the sleeve. "You shouldn't be alone tonight..."

Jack rolled his eyes. Why tonight specifically? He shouldn't be alone, ever. He realised how needy that felt and he hated himself for it. He knew it wouldn't always be like this, that one day he'll wake up not feeling ashamed of having loved and trusted that man.

"You're right." Jack pointed out. "Tyler, come with me."

"Don't mind if I do..." he downed the remaining of his glass and stood up, following Jack who was waving goodbye to a confused looking Gwen.

O-o-O-o-O

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! It's my first fanfiction in this fandom and I hope you enjoyed it! If you have questions about who's endgame, don't hesitate! I am also for any grammatical error, English is not my mother tongue (at this point it's just an excuse for me writing with a foggy head)
> 
> See you all next week! 
> 
> Comments very appreciated <3


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